I ask Iric Desnaray yr Astok about the Ship’s Avatar, both to indulge my curiosity and to see how he will react.

He shrugs. “Oh, the Ships are run by AIs,” he says, “and they can’t go down into atmosphere — much too big — so there are these things they send instead, androids of a sort. I hear that the Ships can make illusions aboard, holos and such.”

He notices my interrogative silence and continues. “Oh, those Sarronny grubbers are a superstitious lot. Won’t say the number seven, won’t walk on the grass, probably think the Ship’s Avatar is a ghost.”

I am not sure I share his sanguine outlook.

***

Character interview with the Immortal of T-7, from NaNo 2013, Inside the Jump. Weekend Writing Warriors offers eight-sentence excerpts from a variety of writers; see the other excerpts here.